Batman Fan Plans to "Take Back the Movies" for Colorado

As the media continues to psychoanalyze the motives behind last week’s Colorado movie theater massacre — even searching for clues in comic books — one fed up Batman fan wants to fight fear with kindness.

Jason Cole, a 41-year-old software executive from the Greater Boulder area, started a grassroots movement called “Take Back the Movies.” His aim: raise enough money from local businesses to treat hundreds of strangers to free movie tickets on Saturday, August 11.

“One jerk in the middle of the night took something fun and turned it into a horror show,” Cole says. “We know we can’t bring the victims back or undo what was done. This is just a modest attempt to shed a little bit of light in the darkness.”

The July 20 shootings at the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora, Colorado killed 12 people and injured 58 during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. Since the incident, Batman screenings in at least five other states have been interrupted due to panicking audiences fearful of a similar attack.

So far, “Take Back the Movies” has raised nearly $8,000, enough to buy 1,000 tickets. The hope is to buy thousands more, enough to fill a few theaters in metro Denver. Ideally, movie patrons will be surprised when they take out their wallets and be told that a stranger paid for their admission.

“It’s the whole cast-a-stone-in-the-pond thing and hope that the ripples continue,” says Cole, who thought of the idea while watching initial news reports of the shootings. “I wanted to do something beyond just writing a check.”

Technical Integrity, a high tech recruitment firm in Boulder, was an early supporter, chipping in $1,000.

“Even though Aurora is a half-hour away and seemingly a world apart from us, everyone in Colorado considers themselves a Coloradoan first — even if you are a transplant from another city,” says CEO Dave Mayer. “This weekend is about refusing to live in fear and reminding ourselves that there are more good people out there than bad.”

“Take Back the Movies” will spread its tickets equally amongst Denver’s three major theater chains, Cinemark/Century, Regal and AMC, although it is not officially being endorsed by any of them. In fact, getting venues to promote the event may be a challenge. Speaking off the record, one theater chain spokesperson told Parade.com that she personally liked the idea but could not comment on any campaign not exclusively focused on the victims. Nonetheless, Cole is optimistic that one of the companies might offer to match the ticket donations.

Cole, who moved with his family to Colorado from Boston in 2009, views movies as the perfect medium for creating bonds between strangers. Declaring himself to be a “Level 4 Quotationist on the Lucas-Bruckheimer Scale,” the software engineer recently delivered a presentation on using movie quotes in the workplace to his industry peers.

Seeing The Dark Knight Rises was a highly anticipated family outing for Cole and his wife Rachel, who had prepped children Sarah, 13, and Ben, 12, with DVD screenings of the first two films in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. The family saw the movie two days after the shootings.

“I wasn’t worried too much about a copycat killer,” he recalls. “But I usually like to get lost in a movie and this time I was definitely keeping my eye on things. When an usher came down the aisle with a flashlight, I wondered, ‘What is he looking for?’”

“I had a much harder time relaxing. I made a choice to take my family to the movie and to enjoy it, though. I wasn’t going to let one man’s selfish actions, or the fear that there might be more people like him, keep us from living.”

“Take Back the Movies” is a scaled-up version of a Cole family tradition to anonymously pay for random strangers’ meals in restaurants. Five percent of the family’s annual income is set aside for a “Blessing Fund” that’s used exclusively for this purpose. Last year, on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, Cole went to his local International House of Pancakes and sprung for everyone’s breakfast.

At “Rachie’s First Blog,” Rachel Cole describes the origins of her family’s charity project, which began with a lonely elderly man being ignored by a waitress at a Friendly’s restaurant. After secretly paying for the diner’s check, she noticed he was “walking tall” and beaming as he left his table.

“You know how much that experience cost me? $9.61. To change someone’s life, even for a few minutes,” Rachel wrote. “Since that time, when we go to similar places, the kids will look for solo diners and ask me if we can take care of their meal. We don’t always do it, just when it feels right.”

Today, she’s happy to see that the movie ticket idea is gaining momentum. “If anything, the Aurora tragedy is a reminder how we have to treasure every day,” she says, “because you just never know what could happen.”